Breaking the news?

A blog post from Christopher Zara entitled "New York Post Subway Death Photo : Unethical or just tasteless?" posted on 4th December 2012 questions the decision of the New York Post to publish this image as the front cover. 

Ki Suk Han, 58, of Queens frantically tries to climb to safety yesterday as a train bears down on him in Midtown. He was fatally struck seconds later. (2012) R. Umar Abbasi 

Naeem Davis, a black street vendor allegedly pushed drunk Ki Suck Han, 58, of Chinese origin into the path of an oncoming train in a New York City subway. Han suffered life threatening injuries for which he may have received CPR on the platform after he was pulled out from the gap and died later in hospital from his injuries. Davies absconded from the scene and was later brought in for questioning by the police.

Davies remained in police custody for 41/2 years and was acquitted in July 2017 through lack of evidence having been accused of  first and second degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Zara's blog entry was published on the day that the paper went into circulation. Zara states that Twitter users questioned the actions of the photographer in taking the image and not helping. He claims the photographers response to the trauma unfolding on the station was to fire his flash several times to alert the train driver. The New York Post refused to comment on the use of the image. The morality of the New York Post's decision to publish this image is questioned. He did not question the people on the platform.

Zara raises the issue of morality concerned with not helping the man who is about to die. Kevin Z. Smith, chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists’ ethics committee checked the image was not photoshopped and responded to an interview with IBTimes stating that “It defies any sense of professional, moral or ethical judgment [Journalists are advised] to show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. It also says to avoid pandering to “lurid curiosity” and to show “good taste” when covering gruesome subjects. (Zara as cited by Smith, 2012).  

Further questions raised in the article are: Do papers see this type of image as something which will sell papers? Do the public want to see images like this? How do the family of victims feel?

By analyzing various news reports, a larger picture of the event is built up. The idea of Ritchin's hyperphotography with metadata attached to the photograph would answer some of the viewers' questions.

The photographer stated he was too far away to help and the flash was his way of alerting the train. However, he has also stated that he wasn't strong enough to help. So I don't think he can be believed.  The press are guilty of sensationalising the story. The wife and daughter of Mr. Han have not been respected or considered during this story. 

In this image the gaze is between Han and the train driver. The platform is empty. The image could be compared to an atrocity image whereby the viewer is sharing a private or voyeuristic moment between the two people.

"Pictures of people about to die, less graphic than pictures of corpses and body parts, also play on different parts of a viewer's psyche. Where images of dead bodies often push viewers away, creating a sense of distance and objectification, images of impending death do the opposite: They often draw viewers in, fostering engagement, creating empathy and subjective involvement, inviting debate. … About-to-die images tweak the landscape on which images and public response work, suggesting that certain news pictures do not surface by playing to the much-touted rational and reasoned understanding that journalism is supposed to provide. Instead, images of impending death play to the emotions, the imagination, and the contingent and qualified aspects of what they depict." (Zelizer, B as cited by Lowder, 2012)

"Contemporary critics dismiss problematic images as pornographic and launch ad hominem attacks against photojournalists. These critics seek something that does not exist: an uncorrupted, unblemished photographic gaze that will result in images flawlessly poised between hope and despair, resistance and defeat, intimacy and distance … They want the worst things on earth … to be represented in ways that are not incomplete, imperfect, or discomfiting." (Linfield as cited by Lowder, 2012) 

This image could be portrayed as showing what the Americans find disturbing about the treatment of New York's mentally ill and homeless. However, the public choose to see the event and not read further into it, instead laying the blame with the photographer and the newspaper. 

Bibliography
Conley, K. (2012) Suspect confesses in pushing death of Queens dad in Times Square subway station. New York Post. [online] Available at: http://nypost.com/2012/12/04/suspect-confesses-in-pushing-death-of-queens-dad-in-times-square-subway-station/ last accessed 11/9/17
Zara, C. (2012) New York Post Subway Death Photo : Unethical or just tasteless? International Business Times. [online]. Available at: http://www.ibtimes.com/new-york-post-subway-death-photo-unethical-or-just-tasteless-918619 last accessed 11/9/17
McKinley, J and Alani, H. (2017) Man who pushed passenger to his death on subway tracks is acquitted. New York Times [online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/nyregion/naeem-davis-subway-death-ki-suck-han.html?mcubz=0 last accessed 11/9/17
Lowder, B. (2012) what really disturbs us most about the N.Y. subway death cover? Slate. [online] Available at:  http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2012/12/04/ny_post_subway_death_photo_of_ki_suk_han_why_r_umar_abbasi_s_image_disturbs.html last accessed 11/9/17